It has been a year since I last posted anything on this
blog. I did not plan to be away that
long, but it has been the appropriate choice for many reasons. Like the field that a farmer leaves alone,
untouched by cultivation for a year, a lot has been going on, but not visibly.
My secular job has been in great turmoil over the last
twelve months. The company fired 10% of
the staff, the executive director for more than two decades retired, my immediate
boss left, a previous boss and mentor retired, and a new executive director has
begun. Most of the structure of those 40
plus hours a week has been torn apart, and there has been a lot of
dysfunctional behavior. Unfortunately,
some of that was my own behavior.
In consultation with my spiritual director, I have been
writing about job related and other issues privately, mostly in my
journal. The journal provides a way to
record what is going on, to gain a perspective, to begin sorting through and to
decide what to do. The experiences have
been too raw, to personal, for public writing and reflection. The time may be coming to begin exploring the
spiritual issues in this public way, but that is not clear yet.
If you follow my other blog, Labyrinth by the Bay, you will
know that I have continued to write there. The focus is on photographing, evaluating, and
learning about the many plants growing in that garden. It has been a place of respite, of finding
surprise and delight, of noticing details that keep me grounded in the present,
concrete world. Caring for those plants
provides a healing unmatched by anything else.
I thank God for that ongoing source of healing.
